Dravid points to 145;key players146;

In a hard-hitting message ahead of the South Africa tour, India captain Rahul Dravid today blamed his 8220;key players8221; for the team8217;s slump and said it was high time they delivered.

In a hard-hitting message ahead of the South Africa tour, India captain Rahul Dravid today blamed his 8220;key players8221; for the team8217;s slump and said it was high time they delivered.

8220;I just think that we need to get performances from a lot of our key players. Last season when we were doing really well, a lot of players in the team were performing consistently and were sort of playing if not up to their potential, sometimes even above their potential8221;, he told PTI.

8220;For the last 2-3 series, we have not been able to get consistent performances from most of our key players. That8217;s something you need to correct. There8217;s quality but we need to get back into putting consistent personal performances, which will help the team,8221; he added.

The Indian team has been going through a lean phase, particularly in the ODIs since the tour of the West Indies in April this year. The team lost the one-day series in the Carribean, failed to reach the final of the DLF Cup tri-series in Malaysia and were knocked out of the Champions Trophy before the semi-final stage.

Dravid said there was enough talent and resilience in the team to come out of this phase and be in a better frame of mind before the World Cup.

On the team8217;s performance in the Champions Trophy, Dravid said it was disappointing not to reach the semis. 8220;Obviously, we could have done better. It would have been nice to reach the semi-finals or final of the tournament especially because it was in India,8221; he said.

8220;But we cannot do much about it now. We have got to look ahead and keep improving our performances from here on until the World Cup,8221; Dravid added.

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The team leaves for South Africa on Monday for a 54-day tour, which will include a five-match ODI series and three Tests.

Then the Windies 038; the Lankans8230;

New Delhi: After the South Africa tour, India will take the field against West Indies in a four-match ODI series between January 21-30 to be played in Chennai, Cuttack, Nagpur and Rajkot. The bilateral series will be followed by another four-game ODI series against Sri Lanka from February 4 or 5. The matches will be held in Pune, Goa, Baroda and Vizag. The BCCI8217;s tours and fixtures committee will seal the dates and venues at a meeting in Nagpur tomorrow.

Yuvraj heads down under for treatment

MUMBAI: Injured middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh will be heading to Australia for a possible surgery to his left knee.Yuvraj fell down while playing kho-kho on the eve of India8217;s Champions Trophy tie against Australia on October 29. An MRI scan suggested a tear in the cruciate ligament and bruises in the knee joint. The left-hander is also understood to be in touch with Dr Greg Hoy in Melbourne who had treated off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for his finger injury in 2003 and VVS Laxman for his knee injury.